Clap Your Hands
by Philote
Summary: Even at five, Sam Winchester knew enough to suspect that a fluttering ball of light hovering over him in his sleep was not a good thing.


Title: Clap Your Hands

Author: Philote

Rating: G

Summary: Even at five, Sam Winchester knew enough to suspect that a fluttering ball of light hovering over him in his sleep was not a good thing.

AN: Short, silly, and sweet, because I can't seem to get enough of little Sam and Dean.

oOo

It was well after midnight when Dean was rudely awakened. His bed shook with the sudden addition of a small body.

Dean groaned. "Sammy," he ground out menacingly.

"Dean, wake up! There's a monster in my room!"

When that registered, Dean was half-upright before his eyes were open. "What kind?"

"The little, glowy kind!"

Now he opened an eye, squinting at his brother. "There's a little, glowy monster in your room."

Sam nodded earnestly. "It was flying!"

Dean sighed and let his head fall back to the pillow. "Was it gone when you opened your eyes?"

"Of course not. Then I wouldn't have seen it. It hid when it saw me looking, though."

Dean propped his eyes open long enough to glare. "Just tell it to fly away."

"But Dean! It was hovering over my head; I think it was trying to eat me!"

Dean studied him, weighing the likelihood of actual threat. Dad took a lot of precautions to protect them at night, and it seemed unlikely that something had gotten past them. Finally he tested, "Do you want to sleep with me, Sammy?"

Wide eyes stared back at him. "Uh huh."

Yup. Disregarding the 'monster' as Sam's excuse for a cuddle, Dean gave in and scooted over, holding the covers up in invitation.

Sammy promptly looked scandalized by his lack of work-ethic. "Not until you kill it!"

Dean's brow furrowed. Maybe this wasn't just a story. He still doubted it was more than a nightmare—but Sammy believed it was real.

With a put-upon sigh he forced himself out from under the covers. He stood there, barefoot, Sam looking up at him expectantly. He glanced around his little room. What sort of weapon did one use against a small, flying, glowy monster?

"Did it do anything to you?" he asked as he looked.

"No. I just woke up, and there it was. But it was thinking about doing something," the little boy added, apparently afraid he'd lose his protector's interest again.

Dean shot him a doubtful look, but moved to retrieve the old baseball bat from his little closet. He'd never played baseball, of course, but he'd found the thing in a park a few cities back. He'd thought it might come in handy some day.

He turned to make the trek to Sammy's room. It started out as a tired trudge. But Sam joined him, trailing no more than a foot behind and gazing up at him with wide-eyed faith, and somehow by the time he'd crossed the threshold he was moving with more of a strut.

He paused in the doorway and held a hand back, silently instructing Sam to stay behind him. He gripped the bat in his other hand and cautiously stepped forward, fully expecting for absolutely nothing to jump out at him.

He was thus surprised when a little ball of light suddenly shot out of nowhere and hurled itself in the vague direction of his head.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, ducking and instinctively reaching for Sam.

Once under the shelter of his arm, Sam was exclaiming, "I told you!"

Dean watched in disbelief as the light stopped just shy of hitting the wall and turned back, skittering to the other side of the room where it slowed minutely as it moved to make several low-flying passes over the bed.

Dean stood slowly, cautiously, careful to keep Sam shielded. He squinted at the little ball of light, trying to make sense of it. It was hard with it in constant motion, but he eventually decided that it looked like a teeny person, with giant wings. Almost like…a fairy.

No. It couldn't be.

Except that 5-year-old Sam had lost his first tooth that afternoon. And modern myth dictated that a lost tooth placed under a pillow…

"Tooth fairy?" he asked dubiously.

It stopped its frenetic flight, taking up position a few feet away at his eye level. It stared at him for a long moment as if sizing him up. Then it abruptly began squeaking, gesturing wildly with tiny arms and fluttering wings so quickly Dean felt a breeze.

He took an involuntary step back and felt Sam huddling against him. The little thing was downright ornery.

Something just didn't feel right about killing a tooth fairy—that was if he was quick enough to hit the thing, which he doubted. But he had to do something before Dad heard it and came in guns blazing. He couldn't think of what it was so worked up over, unless…

He glanced at his brother. Had Sam ever been told the story of the tooth fairy?

"Sammy, where's your tooth?" he whispered.

"They're in my mouth," Sam returned in kind.

Dean would have rolled his eyes if not for the risk of losing track of the irate little creature. "No, the one that fell out today."

"In my drawer. Why? It wants my tooth?"

"I think it might."

Sam only hesitated a moment before he moved to the dresser. Dean circled the glowy ball warily, keeping himself between his brother and it. Fairy or not, he wasn't taking any chances.

Sam fished around for a bit, then moved closer to Dean and placed the tiny tooth in his outstretched hand. He then latched onto Dean's waist, staying firmly behind him but peaking out to watch.

Dean stepped cautiously closer, bat still firmly in one hand and tugging his new appendage. The fairy was watching him as warily as he was watching it.

He felt a tiny little pinch as the tooth was plucked from his palm. Then, before he could think to pull it back, the little fairy looked him in the eyes and snapped its fingers. He watched in astonishment as a dollar bill appeared where the tooth had rested.

Then, as abruptly as it had disrupted their night, the tiny fairy disappeared into thin air.

Dean stood motionless for a moment, staring. He'd been taught that myths weren't always just stories, that more often than not they were rooted in supernatural fact. But…the tooth fairy?

He snapped back to the present when Sam started tugging on the bottom of his t-shirt. "Is it gone?"

"Yeah, Sammy. It's gone."

"You scared it away." The littlest Winchester beamed proudly.

Dean cleared his throat. "Erm. Well…"

But Sam had decided that was fact and moved on. He now wore an uncertain, slightly frightened look. "Will it come back for the rest?" he asked, hushed.

Dean chuckled. "Not while they're still attached, doofus." Sam frowned, but Dean fixed it by hoisting him into his arms and turning to trundle back to his room.

He dumped Sam unceremoniously on his bed. Sammy giggled and twisted sideways as he burrowed under the covers, taking up a good portion of the bed and leaving big brother very little room. Dean dangled the dollar bill above him. "I think this is yours."

Sam tried to reach it, but couldn't in his current position. He had to readjust and pull his legs back under him to get on his knees. As he snatched the bill Dean snatched him, keeping firm hold of the little waist as he jumped under the covers himself.

When he was settled, Sammy snuggled into his shoulder, the fist that clutched the dollar bill coming to rest on his chest. "Dean, why did it want my tooth? Do you know what it was?"

"Sort of," Dean admitted, still a bit awed by it himself. "You see Sammy, there's this story that parents tell their kids…"

oOo

The next morning Dean sat at the kitchen table, contemplating the man at the stove. The whole tooth fairy scam had never seemed like John Winchester's style, especially given his choice of occupation and their financial state. But Dean had put his first tooth under the pillow anyway. When the quarter had appeared the next morning, he'd been thrilled. Each following tooth had brought similar results. Dad had never said anything about it, and Dean had liked it too much to jeopardize it by bringing it up.

He'd never considered that it wasn't Dad. Dean had been a light sleeper since the fire, but he figured nobody could do stealthy like his father.

That actually raised another interesting point. All those years, and he'd never sensed the tooth fairy. How come Sammy had?

The object of his pondering bounded into the kitchen proclaiming excitedly, "Daddy, Daddy! Last night, Dean fought the tooth fairy!"

John raised an amused eyebrow. "Oh he did, did he?"

Dean just pursed his lips and shrugged. It earned him a double take from their father, and he couldn't help but grin. They should both know by now—these things were just all in a night's work for a Winchester.

oOo


End file.
